Gameplay specification

Core simulation: turn flow, screen state machine, economy, diplomacy, and AI.

Scope

• Main loop and idle/sim tick dispatch
• Turn phases (1–4) and end-of-turn processing
• Screen mode and phase state machine
• Per-player economy and diplomacy ticks
• AI recruitment, build orders, and desperation logic
• Single-player vs multiplayer tick paths

Evidence

• ../../architecture/game/MODULE.md — entry points, screen modes, turn actions
• ../../structs/lotr2_game_state.md — global game state layout (partial)
• ../../nobles/README.md — AI noble archetypes, tables, Great Noble UI
• ../../skirmish/README.md — GoG skirmish mode (single battle SP/MP); evidence reference until normative spec pages exist

First spec targets

1. Turn phases (1–4) — what each phase acknowledges, MP opcode coupling (lotr2_game_action_turn_phase*_toggle), economy/diplomacy loop at phase 2 end-of-turn.
2. Screen mode machine — lotr2_game_screen_mode / lotr2_game_screen_phase transitions; relationship to UI overlays and MP lobby wizard (lotr2_game_wizard_step).

Spec pages

• Population and peasant formulas — seasonal birth/death, peasant granularity (ceil(pop/25)), labor/tax allocation buckets, allocation slider visualization, and spend-driven province tier growth